‘Don’t call me racist for voting leave,’ wrote expat Kiwi and controversy magnet Alex Hazlehurst earlier this week. How about we call you short-sighted, self-centred and sadly misinformed instead, suggests New Zealand-born Londoner Paul Gallagher. Dear Alex, The upheaval and recriminations following the EU referendum result have seemingly left everyone in the UK on edge. … Read more
Te Puea Memorial Marae has become the epicentre and symbol of Auckland’s homeless families. The Spinoff’s Madeleine Chapman spent a week volunteering there to compile this report. Photography by Qiane Matata-Sipu. The Warehouse has agreed to match all donations delivered through this story – scroll to the bottom for information on how you can help. Two teenage boys … Read more
Former Al Jazeera journalist Caitlin McGee spent years living in the Middle East and has reported from South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Recently returned home to New Zealand, she’s dismayed with what she’s found. The girl sitting across from me never had control of her body. She’d spent her childhood as the possession of … Read more
From Memphis, sports writer Ben Stanley reflects on the enduring social impact of Muhammad Ali, who died last week aged 74. “I am America,” legendary boxer Muhammad Ali once declared. It was 1970. He had been convicted evading the draft to serve in the Vietnam War, and was losing the prime years of his boxing … Read more
Bill English just delivered his eighth budget, and the opposition as ever had pre-cooked epithets to denounce it. Here’s how his budgets have been defined – heroically or hopelessly – by his enemies (and ACT) in the parliamentary budget debate since 2009. 2009 Labour leader Phil Goff said it was the Dishonest Budget Greens co-leader … Read more
The Spinoff asked a bunch of clever people to give us one sentence they’d like to see magically written into the finance minister’s Budget speech. These are the words they’d put in his mouth … “Inequality in New Zealand has increased dramatically in recent years, and we need to urgently address it, particularly in the … Read more
Spoiler: Almost certainly it doesn’t. The most remarkable thing about John Key and his government’s support is how rock-solid it remains in the middle of term three. The poll result on housing, mind you, is striking. True to the digital-first mantra, Newshub has published its latest Reid poll online, eschewing the usual path of unveiling … Read more
What are foreign trusts and where do they come from? Is New Zealand really a tax haven? And how can we fix things? Tax expert Deborah Russell explains all No one ever set out to create a tax haven in New Zealand. Our tax system is largely robust, transparent and fair. There’s just this one … Read more
Theories have been circulating suggesting the mysterious figure behind the Panama Papers leaks may in fact be the NZ-based internet entrepreneur. The Spinoff begins its fearless mission to unmask John Doe by asking, is it you, Kim Dotcom? Rare is the day when the two most voluble and entertaining thought leaders of the New Zealand … Read more
The prime minister has suggested his lawyer was sloppy in his choice of wording in an email two years ago. Now, on assurances regarding Mossack Fonseca, is the sloppiness getting even sloppier? On April 13, the prime minister was widely reported as saying he had been assured that his longstanding personal lawyer, Ken Whitney, had … Read more
Opinion: The government wants more electric vehicles on NZ roads. But the plan to let them drive in bus lanes can only throw improvements in bus services into reverse, writes Matt Lowrie. The government wants to boost the currently dismal uptake of electric vehicles, increasing the numbers on our roads from about 1,200 to 64,000 … Read more
Opinion: By issuing a blanket ban because an age restriction would be “impracticable”, the Office of Film and Literature Classification has dangerously overdone it, putting drivers of the vans on a par with child sex offenders, writes Graeme Edgeler. Last week, the Office of Film and Literature Classification declared three Wicked Campers vans “objectionable” because … Read more
Mark Thomas was just 30 when, on the cusp of becoming a National MP, he was publicly knifed by his own Prime Minister and made history. He was our first sacrificial lamb under the MMP electoral system, ruthlessly cut by Jim Bolger two days before general election day in 1996, when National decided Act’s Richard … Read more
The Spinoff Editorial Board rules on whether Nick Smith was right when he said housing is more affordable in Auckland now than when National came to power. This morning, Housing Minister Nick Smith made the following statement on Morning Report: “If you look at the Massey University Housing Affordability Index, independently produced by that university, … Read more
Is my broker the asshole? His advice seemed utterly outrageous, but at the same time completely rational, writes Jesse Mulligan. I had journalist Matt Nippert on my RNZ show this week. He’d done some calculations based on house price inflation and Lotto first-division inflation and worked out that by the year 2039, if you correctly … Read more
Is the tide turning in NZ and globally on drug laws? Alison Mau hosts an expert panel discussion with Russell Brown, Kevin Hague, Hirini Kaa and Chris Wilkins. Drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs. Marijuana, marijuana. The timeless musings of MC OJ and the Rhythm Slave might well describe the array of news headlines in recent … Read more
Land tax is a good idea. But the proposal to lump it on non-residents alone just invites go-betweens to take advantage. Time for a properly coherent tax policy, argues Gareth Morgan. John Key has floated the idea of an annual land tax on foreign buyers of residential real estate as one response to the influx … Read more
Going off like a frog in a sock, the third edition of the Spinoff politics pod, featuring Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas with Toby Manhire A brand new Gone By Lunchtime is here – unless you’re reading this some time in the future, in which case it will no longer be brand new. On the … Read more
The front runner for Auckland’s top job has been a Labour politician for three decades, but now he’s embracing independence. And the ticker is good for another 20 years of toil, he tells Tim Murphy Phil Goff is shedding his tribal Labour Party skin. He is starting to like his new look and feel as … Read more
Tim Murphy was a sceptic when Victoria Crone’s candidacy for the Auckland mayoralty was announced. But watching her form at a public meeting on Thursday has him questioning that judgement. It’s rumoured among Auckland’s political cognoscenti that Victoria Crone, should she fail to pull off a miracle and win the Super City mayoralty, has been promised … Read more
There are calls for New Zealand’s age of consent to be lowered. Madeleine Holden argues impulsive law-making is a bad idea. Debate about the age of consent in New Zealand has been reignited after five young men were recently discharged without conviction for having sex with underage girls. The accused in the Opotiki case were five 17-18 year olds who … Read more
It is perhaps the world’s most famous dildo – but what became of it? Hayden Donnell reveals the answer in this Spinoff special investigation into the fate of the Waitangi dildo. We all remember the moment of impact. “Thwack.” Pink flesh striking pink flesh. The dildo sprung off Steven Joyce’s jowls like a prisoner released, careening … Read more
Opinion: the minister’s tough-on-crime agenda is at odds with much of the wider direction on justice and corrections, writes Di White. “Explaining” is not a mode politicians tend to enjoy. Following the release of new figures that show the prison population at a record high, the recently reappointed Minister of Corrections, Judith Collins, went into … Read more
Illegal fishing, much of it by China, is costing some of the world’s smallest and poorest nations hundreds of millions of dollars. Why isn’t New Zealand doing more about the blatant theft in its backyard, asks Michael Field. It would have been a tense moment or two for Captain Wang Chang Fu when, in the … Read more
Opinion: Much of the commentary and analysis on the TPP has focussed on the role of corporate interests. But little attention has been paid to understanding what is driving such deals in broader foreign policy terms, writes Nicholas Ross Smith. Recent months have seen much impassioned debate around the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the deal signed between … Read more
Opinion: The forthcoming select committee review into assisted dying should represent a welcome opportunity for reasoned debate on an important issue. It’s unfortunate then, says Gareth Morgan, that the committee’s chair has already made up his mind. After the much publicised struggle and death of Lecretia Seales, former MP Maryan Street presented a petition to Parliament … Read more
Our impossibly torturous flag change process has left us with two terrible options. Design industry professional Simon Pound explains why he’s sticking with the status quo. You know someone’s in real trouble when they have to call in their popular, tough mates to help out. So I feel sorry for John Key, having to get Richie and Dan to … Read more
To mark the beginning of the parliamentary year, the Spinoff presents a fun and mildly educational game, inspired by Top Trumps, in which MPs are pitted against one another on the basis of their career stats – years in parliament, majority and Twitter followers – and some arbitrarily assigned ratings, power and style. All complaints … Read more
In Gone By Lunchtime, the Spinoff’s new politics podcast, Toby Manhire is joined by former Native Affairs producer Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas of political PR outfit Exceltium to discuss the Waitangi kerfuffles, the trade deal row, state of the nation speeches from the four main party leaders, and home baking. Listen on iTunes or … Read more